The Japanese army's combat capabilities are very unique. They are good at hand-to-hand shooting and bombing, and have extremely strong individual combat capabilities. They are the best shooting soldiers I have ever seen. They are short in stature, but they fight fiercely. They also have weaknesses. Although their artillery It was much larger than the Chinese army, but much worse than the European and American armies. This time the New Fourth Army concentrated most of its firepower and suppressed the Japanese army. At the same time, their tank armor was very thin. I even saw some used by the New Fourth Army. A special kind of artillery broke through the Japanese tank armor. It was a cylindrical artillery piece like a medieval artillery piece. Unfortunately, they didn't let me observe it up close. I suspect it was a new weapon from the Soviet Union. Information on this I believe there are many in the Japanese army.
The last thing I must mention is that following the New Fourth Army, I saw too many tragedies caused by the Japanese army. All kinds of unspeakable things such as massacres of traitorous camps and looting were constantly performed on this land. I can’t believe that there is such a thing in the world. The devil's army and so many cruel people. The Chinese people either have to endure the war, or they can only choose to join the army and take up arms to resist, and more and more people are resisting. My regiment , when I left, more than 300 farmers had taken the initiative to ask to join, and there were hundreds of captured Nanjing troops who asked to join. Anyway, these people were selected and absorbed into the New Fourth Army. The New Fourth Army first carried out ideological baptism on them. , let them know why the New Fourth Army troops are fighting. Therefore, I think the Chinese Red Party armed forces will not give up fighting the Japanese army, because all their troops agree with the view that national contradictions are above class contradictions. If the Chinese Red Party If the central government wants to cooperate with Japan, it is obvious that their army will collapse from within, and their central decisive line will never allow such a thing to happen.
We will continue to observe Yan'an, Chongqing and the Japanese army in this land, and report back at any time. We hope that our intelligence can provide enough clues for Mr. President's strategic choices. May God bless the United States.
Ruide Bao and Xie Weisi finally completed the report for this month. They put the report away and prepared to take it back to Washington. Ruide Bao yawned and looked at Xie Weisi, who was also very tired next to him, and smiled and said, we are finally going back. The call from above asked us to go to Xi'an, because our delegation is in Xi'an at this time.
Xie Weisi nodded and said that's fine, we can report directly to the superiors when we go to Xi'an. I believe these things will shock the White House.
Bao Ruide said with some worry that what I am more worried about now is Japan's strategic changes. This time the New Fourth Army captured several cities, but the Japanese army did not fight back fiercely. This is not in line with the Japanese combat habits we have learned. I doubt the Japanese army. It's not that I don't want to fight back, it's that I don't care about fighting back.
Xie Weisi immediately reacted and said, "What you mean is that the Japanese army is about to move south, so the troops in China are insufficient and are temporarily shrinking."
Ruide Bao hummed and said, "I don't know what happened to the long-rumored four-nation talks."
Xie Weisi smiled and said that is a European matter, we don't need to care too much, what I care about is Asia.
What Redhead and Xie Weisi didn't know was that they were partly responsible for the Japanese army's failure to strike back immediately.
Tokyo
There was a knock on the door.
Come in. Konoe put down his pen and said outside.
Ishihara Wanji opened the door and bowed to Konoe and said, Prime Minister, I have extremely important information that I need to report to you.
Konoe immediately stretched out his hand and said, sit down quickly, what happened?
After sitting down, Ishihara Wanji handed Konoe a document and said that this is urgent information from China. Our special agents found traces of suspected Americans in Shanxi, and at the same time obtained information about the secret visit of the American delegation in Chongqing.
We suspect that the United States is preparing to change its attitude toward empire.
Konoe immediately opened it and started to read it. Ishihara Wanji let him read it while explaining that their actions were very secretive. Chongqing and Yan'an were obviously very secretive about the visit from the United States. Not only did we not see it in any public reports,
Even our agents learned about it by coincidence. We have already learned that this delegation arrived in China from Southeast Asia. Considering the current international situation, it should be China's new reinforcements after the Soviet Union is about to withdraw its aid.
Konoe asked in disbelief if this information was reliable. You must know that this will be related to the grand strategy of our empire. If the United States becomes our enemy, the situation in the empire will be completely different from what we initially judged.
And I have questions. We have known for a long time that China's Song Ziwen asked for help from the United States, but based on our understanding, there should be no positive feedback from the United States.
Ishihara smiled and said, This just shows the cunningness of the Americans. They are building plank roads openly and secretly. I guess they are preparing to secretly support the Chinese to fight against us, and I dare to assert that the United States will soon impose trade sanctions on the empire.
.
Saying that, Ishihara Wanji stood up and opened the file to a photo and said that this was a photo accidentally taken by our troops when they were fighting against the Red Party's armed New Fourth Army troops in Jiangsu, China. Although the man in the photo was wearing the uniform of the New Fourth Army, he
He is obviously a Caucasian, and the appearance of this person is very similar to what our Shanxi agents described. If it just wants to support China to check and balance our country, then the United States does not need to be so eager to obtain our military's combat habits and strength level.
, I suspect that the United States may have plans to fight the empire.
Konoe looked at it, put down the document with a snap and said, "I have always hoped to coexist peacefully with the United States. In the southward plan drawn up by the military department, it even requested that American spheres of influence such as the Philippines be spared. However, I did not expect that the United States had already begun to secretly
Want to deal with us.
After saying that, Konoe took a few deep breaths, opened his eyes and said, "Let's report this to His Majesty the Emperor. We may have a very bad plan."
royal council
I don’t think we need to worry about the possible interference of the United States at all. Even if the United States wants to support China, as long as we go south, our troops can cut off the Burma Highway. How can American supplies be transported into China? Tojo Hideki said without any worry.
If they are worried about the intervention of the US military, I believe that the samurai swords of our imperial army will teach them a lesson. I have said before that Americans are greedy for life and fear death. As long as they are given the threat of death, they will shrink back and dare not step forward in America.
, I think the Navy will agree with my idea.
Of course, Navy Minister Zengo Yoshida did not dare to show weakness, and immediately nodded and said to Hirohito, Your Majesty, our navy can ensure that US warships cannot appear in the Sea of Japan.
Ishihara smiled and said to Tojo Hideki that if you can win by shouting, then donkeys will rule the world. Gentlemen, there are many signs that the United States will not do nothing as we first guessed.
Those of you who are responsible for the future of the empire should calculate defeat first and then calculate victory. Think about what will happen to the empire if the US military really launches a sudden attack on the empire. The empire's front is already very long. If it goes south, it will be even longer. Such a long front
, where to be the main force, where to be the supplementary force, where to hold on and where to give up. If there is no such strategic plan, I think we should temporarily stop preparations for going south and think about these issues carefully.
Hideki Haga Tojo jumped up and shouted, "We must not give up even an inch of the land occupied by the warriors of the Imperial Army and we must defend it at all times."
Are you a soldier? Don't you know that defending everywhere means losing defense everywhere? Ishihara Wanji immediately retorted.
If we really want to say it, the mainland is naturally the first, followed by Manchuria, North Korea, Taiwan and the surrounding islands. Konoe was not so impatient and put forward his own argument first.
These places are all in the eastern part of the empire. If the US military invades, they will come from the west. What does it have to do with these places? Tojo Hideki disagreed and said, just because it was the Konoe who brought him into the cabinet, so it was not easy to curse directly.
If the US military really goes to war with the empire, it will definitely use the Philippines as the starting point to attack Nanyang. If this is really the case, our troops may have to concentrate on fighting the US military in Nanyang. Will the Chinese army take the opportunity to counterattack? Ishihara Kanji
Said analytically.
In addition, I must tell you that the news from Berlin indicates that Germany and the Soviet Union have been unable to reach an agreement on the division of power in Europe. We may have to face the Soviet Union, an old rival. The Foreign Minister dropped another bomb.
The Soviet Union, China and the United States, that is to say, if the most extreme situation occurs, we may fight on three sides. This does not include the British team. Ishihara took a breath and said, he is most worried about the Soviet Union.
Hirohito was so frightened that he broke into a thin sweat. He looked at Konoe anxiously. Konoe immediately realized that he could not hit Hirohito like this, otherwise Hirohito would probably doubt that he was not capable enough and replace him.
Konoe immediately said that it was actually not that exaggerated. This was the most extreme situation we thought. Thinking on the bright side, the United States and the Soviet Union have not yet shown real hostility to the empire, and the Soviet Union has just signed a peace contract with us, right?
At this time, Hirohito suddenly saw Ishihara's smiling sneer, and said, "How can Ishihara understand this?"
Kanji Ishihara immediately signaled to Hirohito and said, "I propose three combat plans for everyone's reference. The first one is to fight quickly and immediately send troops to Southeast Asia. Before the United States has decided whether to participate in the war and has not unified its internal thinking, it will be an offensive to sweep away fallen leaves with the autumn wind."
Solving the Southeast Asian problem, just like the Manchurian Incident in the past, is the best policy. I am 80% sure that if we end the war in Southeast Asia within three months, the United States will not have time to send troops.
The second is to immediately negotiate comprehensively with the United States and reconsider moving north. However, the prerequisite for moving north is that the Soviet Union and Germany will become hostile or even go to war. In this way, we will have the risk of the United States attacking the back of our army. However, if our country and Germany fight together, it will be difficult for the Soviet Union to win.
, seeing that the Soviet Union has no hope of victory, it is difficult to say whether the United States can make up its mind to go to war against the empire. This is the middle strategy.
The third is to completely abandon external expansion, concentrate on managing China, and aim to establish a Sino-Japanese community. This is a sound strategy.
After saying that, Ishihara Wanji looked at everyone. These are my three strategies. If anyone comes up with other strategies that are better than mine, feel free to do so.
It seems that you did not mention China in the first two plans. Someone stood up and asked.
Ishihara Wanji looked at everyone and asked, "We can't take China now. When we go to war with the United States or the Soviet Union, will we still have the strength to take it? It would be good if we can maintain the status quo."
The imperial meeting that day did not determine what Japan should do in the end. In fact, this is the biggest problem in Japan's strategy. Germany's goal is very clear. It is to defeat France and the United Kingdom step by step and become stronger, and establish a great empire that occupies Europe. Although Japan
Now that there is a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, there has never been an accurate strategic step plan. This is because Japan initially wanted to take over China step by step, but in the end it turned into a full-scale war, and it still has no ending. China is involved.
After a large number of troops, the cards in Japan's hand are no longer enough. Only the navy is not under pressure. This is why the Japanese high-level officials are considering going south. Now Japan is like a gambler who still has some cards in his hand. Looking at the card game, he feels that there are opportunities everywhere.
Hesitant... But the imperial meeting that day gave an order to the Chinese theater. All troops were not allowed to counterattack at will. This was mainly because the Japanese high-level officials were frightened by the subordinate troops below. If the Japanese army was preparing to go south or north,
As a result, a great war broke out in China, and it was hard to eat with raw food.
Berlin
We have been talking for a month. Our Comrade Stalin expressed that he is very dissatisfied with the status of our negotiations. If we really need the Soviet Union to join the alliance, then we should show enough sincerity instead of blindly delaying and perfunctory like this.
.Molotov expressed his dissatisfaction.
The opinion of our head of state is that we hope that the Soviet Union will give up its demands on Turkey and Bulgaria. As compensation, we are willing to hand over part of India, the most brilliant diamond in the British Empire, to your country for trusteeship. Your country only needs to take over the Middle East and can easily make peace with it.
Our country will join forces with Egypt and Japan with India. I hope you will adopt it. Ribbentrop proposed the German plan.
Molotov took a breath and said okay, I will tell Moscow, please wait for our reply.
At least there has been some change. To be continued...